That same period saw the construction of even bigger solar plants that use mirrors to concentrate sunlight, raise steam, and drive turbines. The 5.2-MW plant’s time in the sun was cut short, however, as deterioration of the panels soon sapped their output. One abortive start occurred right here in the Carrizo in 1983, when an oil company erected one of the first dedicated solar power stations. Solar’s scale-up in California has been a long time coming.
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This means that CAISO and other grid operators have just a few more years to figure out how to best integrate this new wealth of solar-generated power. According to models commissioned by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), which oversees the state’s bulk electricity grid, some areas could suffer that very scenario by 2020 if current trends continue. But the commissioning of more plants, plus the proliferation of rooftop solar, could soon lead to days when generation exceeds demand, threatening to upset the grid’s delicate balance. So far most grid operators are taking the “big solar” surge in stride, in part because PV plants like Topaz tend to produce the most electricity when demand is also high. Indeed, First Solar is also nearing the completion of another massive PV plant, its 550-MW Desert Sunlight Solar Farm, in Southern California. solar market did in 2013, according to projections by Boston-based green-tech consultancy GTM Research. This year, plants like Topaz will add more megawatts than the entire U.S. While installation of rooftop PV continues to expand, utility-scale solar has come to dominate the market. As recently as 2009, rooftop systems accounted for nearly 90 percent of U.S. Topaz marks the pinnacle in a massive scale-up of grid-connected solar power across the United States.
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The site will reach its full design capacity early this year. This sea of panels and the associated inverters and transformers are designed to deliver 550 megawatts of low-carbon AC power, enough to service 180,000 homes. This is the world’s largest solar power plant, Topaz Solar Farms, where First Solar, based in Tempe, Ariz., has erected nearly 9 million of its cadmium-telluride thin-film photovoltaic panels across 19 square kilometers of former ranchland. The utter quiet is a facet of the technology.
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